Bangladesh is turning to Malaysia for diplomatic support, particularly leveraging its role as ASEAN Chair, to galvanise international action on the protracted Rohingya refugee crisis.Chief Adviser to the interim government of Bangladesh, Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus, said Malaysia’s experience in hosting Rohingya refugees, combined with its leadership of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), positions it as a key player in driving a coordinated regional response.“We are hoping that Malaysia will use its influence in global negotiations to help us overcome this crisis,” Yunus told the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) in a special interview during the final leg of his official visit to Malaysia.
The interview, conducted by Editor-in-Chief Arul Rajoo Duraraj, Editor of International News Service Voon Miaw Ping, and Assistant Editor of Economic News Service Kisho Kumari Sucedaram, highlighted Bangladesh’s growing concerns over the deteriorating situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
Yunus warned that renewed fighting between the Arakan Army and Myanmar’s military has triggered fresh waves of Rohingya fleeing across the border. “In the past 18 months alone, 150,000 new Rohingya refugees have arrived in Bangladesh, on top of the 1.2 million already here,” he said. “The situation is becoming increasingly acute. And to make matters worse, the United States has cut off all funding for their upkeep—creating a massive challenge for us.”
To address the escalating humanitarian and political dimensions of the crisis, Yunus announced that three international conferences on the Rohingya issue will be held in the coming months.
The first is scheduled for late August in Cox’s Bazar, coinciding with the eighth anniversary of Bangladesh’s assumption of responsibility for hosting Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Rakhine State.
A second high-level meeting will be held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, followed by a third conference planned for December in Doha, Qatar.
Despite repeated pledges, repatriation efforts have stalled, further complicated by the ongoing civil conflict in Myanmar that erupted following the 2021 military coup.
The prolonged crisis continues to strain not only Bangladesh but also several ASEAN countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, which have also received Rohingya arrivals.
Malaysia, though not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, currently hosts nearly 150,000 Rohingya refugees on humanitarian grounds.
The Rohingya crisis traces back to 2017, when a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State triggered a mass exodus of over 700,000 Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh, creating the world’s largest refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar.